1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a contact arrangement configured such that an elastic member presses a contact member against an object to be contacted.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 9 shows a conventional probe connector 70 which is used in a connecting area when electrical connection between print substrates is desired. The probe connector 70 shown in FIG. 9 comprises a stationary part 74 fixed onto a component 72 constituting one side of contact, a movable contactor 76 made of a conductor and movably housed in the stationary part 74, and a spring 78 made of a conductor and movably housed in the stationary part 74. The movable contactor 76 is brought into contact with a contact point of a component 80 constituting the other side of contact by a force exerted from the spring 78. The spring 78, the movable contactor 76, and the stationary part 74 establish an electric conduction path to bring electric continuity between the two components 72 and 80, specifically, between conductor patterns 72a and 80a provided on the components 72 and 80, respectively. This type of contact arrangement has an advantage in that a wiring task for electrically connecting two components can be omitted, and the contact arrangement is particularly effective in connecting two components when the distance between the two components varies, or when there is part-to-part variation in dimensions. Japanese Utility-Model Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 4-88690, for example, discloses one known example for such a probe connector, but there is no description regarding applicability of the probe connector to a contact arrangement for an antenna or for a vehicle. For the reasons described, the above-described technology is not readily or easily applied to a contact arrangement for an antenna or for a vehicle.
Further, in the prior-art contact arrangement such as described above, a coil spring is typically used as a part of the electric conduction path, but this leads to problematic situations in which, for example, the inductance of the coil spring causes transmission loss to increase in high-frequency signal transfer.
In the related-art contact arrangement, the spring may be placed near a ground electrode. One problem which often arises when the spring is placed in such a manner is that the strength of a signal decreases in a certain frequency band due to a parasitic capacitance existing between the spring and the ground electrode.